With about 1,200 new residents a month, Cape Coral, Fla., is one of the nation’s fastest-growing cities. Only 30 years old, it grew by 8 percent (11,400 people) in 2005-06. Its current 165,000 population is expected to double in the next 30 years.
Both the city’s wastewater treatment plants have been expanding to keep pace. When planning began for another expansion at the older Everest plant in 2006, acting plant superintendent Brian Fenske knew it was the last shot to get everything right. “There is no room to make the facility larger,” he says.
That work included improvements that dramatically increase energy
